Public meeting will launch Pudsey chapel restoration campaign

A campaign to help restore a decaying historic chapel at the heart of Pudsey Cemetery will be launched at a public meeting later this month.

The Friends of Pudsey Cemetery and Chapel group is encouraging people to attend the meeting, which will be held at St Andrew’s Church Hall in Robin Lane on Thursday, 27 July, from 7.15pm.

As reported by the Dispatch last month, the historic building has suffered from neglect and vandalism since it closed more than a decade ago. The building, which dates back to 1875 and houses two chapels, has large sections of its roof missing and has shrubs and trees growing from the masonry.

The Friends group is aiming to take the building into community ownership, an idea which will be discussed in more detail at the meeting.

Damaged roofs at Pudsey Cemetery Chapel…

One campaigner, Pudsey resident Damon Sugden, called on people to support the group and get involved. He said:

“We want to get as many people from the community involved as possible – lots of people have relatives buried here, people pass through on a regular basis or may care about Pudsey’s heritage. As a community we need to be picking up this sort of thing up and taking ownership of it – it’s us who have to live with it.”

The meeting will also discuss how the group can work with the council to help with the maintenance of cemetery grounds.

Pictured above are campaigners Pedro Machada and Damon Sugden at the Chapel.